Celtic’s manager may be well known for dividing opinion but the bullets, bombs and violence directed his way are a shameful stain on the game

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ssaulted on the touchline at Tynecastle on Wednesday night. Neil Lennon’s fault? Bullets and bombs in the post. Neil Lennon’s fault? Battered in a Glasgow street. Neil Lennon’s fault? Websites carrying death threats to him and his family. Neil Lennon’s fault? No, no, no and no.

What has become blurred where Celtic’s manager is concerned is the line between acceptable rivalry and antagonism among football supporters and the sinister sectarian element that continues to attach itself to the game in Scotland.

Yes, Lennon is a brash young manager who says controversial things, but in that respect he’s not so different from Graeme Souness. To supporters of any other clubs, Souness became a pantomime villain when he arrived in Scotland back in 1986. He was booed and jeered wherever he went but that antipathy towards him flowed from football and mostly remained within the game’s own boundaries and conventions.